Tarasenko leaves the NHL bubble
The defending Stanley Cup champion St. Louis Blues never envisioned defending their crown under these circumstances. The National Hockey League shutdown play in mid-March due to the COVID-19 pandemic and after months away from the ice, were able to return to play this summer and are already nearly through the first round of the playoffs.
They created two bubbles in order to make it happen – one in Edmonton for the Western Conference teams and one in Toronto for the teams in the Eastern Conference. While fans, players and coaches all seem to happy with how everything has panned out thus far, that doesn’t mean there hasn’t been any issues. Boston Bruins goaltender Tuukka Rask opted to leave the bubble to be with his family and on Tuesday the Blues announced that Vladimir Tarasenko also had to leave the bubble to deal with a shoulder injury he picked up against the Vancouver Canucks.
The winger had surgery back in October on his shoulder and missed 61 games during the regular season as a result but was able to return when the league resumed play in July. The team decided the right decision was to fly him back to St. Louis to meet with team doctors and re-assess the injury.
“It’s concerning. Again, we don’t know a lot yet. I’m not going to jump to conclusions about anything,” Blues coach Craig Berube told the media on Tuesday, via ESPN.
Tarasenko missed games three and four against in the Blues’ opening round playoff series against the Canucks and will be out for the remainder of the first round at the very minimum. The team announced that they will provide an update on the 28-year-old’s status on Monday.
“He obviously wasn’t comfortable with the way it felt, so we gotta get it looked at,” Berube continued. “We’re a team. We play without players at times, because you have to. Our team is what makes us a good team. We rely on each other. Different people can come in and do the job.”
Tarasenko was drafted with the 16th overall pick in the 2010 NHL Entry Draft and has spent his entire NHL career with the Blues after joining them from SKA Saint Petersburg of the KHL for the 2012-2013 season. This is his eighth season with the club.
The Blues have made the playoffs in seven of the eight years that Tarasenko has been with the team, going all the way and winning the Stanley Cup last year for the first time in franchise history. The winger played a vital role in his team’s playoff success last season, featuring in 26 games scoring 11 goals and providing six assists.
It remains to be seen whether Tarasenko can return to the bubble if his team gets past the Canucks, but at this point it does not look very good for the veteran. The Blues continue their best-of-seven series against Vancouver on Friday night as they fight to keep their season alive, finding themselves down 3-2 heading into game six. St. Louis finished the regular season atop the Central Division with 94 points from 71 games.
